Jaiminīya (Talavakāra) Brāhmaṇa 2-7.236

2-7.236

tadyajjyotirbhavati tena yajñamukhaṃ na chambaṭkurvanti
atha yadukthyastena stotrāṇi na vicchindanti
āpta iva ha khalu vā eṣa yajñakraturyo virājamabhisaṃpannaḥ
sa punarārambhyo bhavati
tyadyaduttarasyāhnaścaturviṃśaṃ bahiṣpavamānaṃ bhavati caturviṃśatyardhamāsassaṃvatsaraḥ
saṃvatsaro yajño yajñamevaitadyajñamukha ārabhante
atho caturviṃśatyakṣarā vai gāyatrī
gāyatryo vā āptaṃ yajñakratuṃ punastanvate
no hyanyā gāyatryā āptaṃ yajñakratumudyantumarhati
tadāhuḥ kathaṃ na catuścatvāriṃśo nāṣṭācatvāriṃśo mukhaṃ yugmatāṃ stomānāṃ
bhavitumarhati
kathaṃ caturviṃśa eveti
sa brūyāttripadā vai gāyatrī
tattripadā pratipadyanta iti
sarvastomo'tirātro bhavati sarveṣāṃ lokānāmabhijityā abhikrāntyai
sarvaṃ hīdaṃ stomā eva
atho yānimānekaikānstomānupāgāma tānsārdhamṛddhvā eṣu
pratiṣṭhāyodṛcamaśnavāmahā iti

In that it is a Jyotiḥ, thereby they do not make a blunder at the opening of the sacrifice.
Now, in that it is an Ukthya, thereby they do not sever the chants.
Reached, as it were, is this sacrificial rite which has conformed to the Virāj.
It is to be begun anew.
In that the Bahiṣpavamāna of the latter day is twenty-four-versed—the year has twenty-four half-months;
the year is the sacrifice—it is the sacrifice itself that they begin at the opening of the sacrifice.
Moreover, the Gāyatrī has twenty-four syllables.
It is the Gāyatrīs that extend anew a sacrificial rite that has been reached.
For none other than the Gāyatrī is capable of taking up a sacrificial rite that has been reached.
On this they say: 'Why does neither the forty-four-fold nor the forty-eight-fold deserve to be the head, the even-numbered among the stomas?
Why only the twenty-four-fold?'
He should say: 'The Gāyatrī has three feet.
Therefore they start with a three-footed one.'
The Atirātra is an all-stoma rite for the conquering of all worlds, for the traversing [of them].
For all this is the stomas indeed.
Moreover: 'Prospering together with these single stomas which we have approached, standing firm in them, may we attain the completion.'